Great Wapo article on our coach

[Brandon_Cox]

Tom Brady’s absence has only bolstered Bill Belichick’s esteemed place in NFL history

Didn't see it posted

 

[patfanken]

Thanks for finding this, Brandon. This is one of the best articles I've seen on BB. Here are a few quotes that struck me the most.

"It’s something Coach Belichick appreciates fully. He not only loves and appreciates football history. He’s cognizant of his place in it. Coach Belichick has given us more access than any coach of his stature in the history of the league.”

That last statement would probably shock most of the mediots who follow him day to day.

"When his career is over, he’ll very much enjoy being remembered, as opposed to being heralded today,” Rodgers said. “Being in the pantheon with Paul Brown is something one day he’ll humbly accept and embrace. Today, you might get a scoff if you were to bring that up with him."

"Belichick, though, is less interested in the division of credit than the validation of his methods. "

This is an important insight to understanding how BB operates. And I also loved the fact that in the article he mentions how coincidently Brissett's TD run was so similar to a play from a book written in 1954, and then gave the page number of the book

GOD we are so lucky we've been able to have this guy here for the last 17 years

 

[n6249c]

I thought this was very impressive:

In a victory last Thursday over the Houston Texans, Belichick unearthed blocking schemes from the 1960s and borrowed formations from the Navy teams for which his father scouted. On page 89 of “Winning Football Plays,” a part of the Belichick Collection first published in 1954, Nebraska’s Quarterback Sneak Off Trap is diagrammed. With a fake handoff to the left, two pulling linemen and the quarterback running around right end, it closely resembles the play on which Brissett scored a 27-yard touchdown last Thursday.

 

[The Gr8est]

I thought this was very impressive:

But "No", it's all because BB cheats.

That is just such an outrageous and insulting statement that I feel all the anger again just writing it.

I was hopeful that the Pats continuing success with Brady suspended would finally force the haters to finally admit that it isn't due to cheating, it is due to hard work, preparation, and excellence, but instead I am hearing lately that it is a shame that BB insists on tarnishing his legacy by cheating, when he is such a great coach that he really doesn't need to.

Some people are not going to give up their security blanket easily or willingly.

 

[SVN]

these are the same guys who will turn around and kill him the first time he makes a call which doesnt work e.g defer a coin toss or 4th and 2. I love all the BB praise but its just lazy media feeding up the frenzy secretly rooting against him.

 

[Jackson 2]

these are the same guys who will turn around and kill him the first time he makes a call which doesnt work e.g defer a coin toss or 4th and 2. I love all the BB praise but its just lazy media feeding up the frenzy secretly rooting against him.

With all due respect, Adam Ki!gore is the furthest thing in the world from a "lazy media" member. And the Washington Post, led by Sally Jenkins, has been arguably the fairest and most pro_Brady/Pats newspaper in the country, including the Globe and Herald. Like patfanken, I found this piece incredibly impressive and enjoyable.

 

[Hammer of Thor]

I thought this was very impressive:

While I found that impressive, what I found most impressive was this: the author of the article himself researched it, and figured it out for himself, and got it right. I can't believe that! The DC metro area is blessed with great sports writers that unfortunately is wasted on the Washington Redskins. Can you imagine Ben Volin doing this? Instead we get Volin googling about Kraft being a donor of a board that ran an independent deflate gate analysis, and it turns out it was actually Kraft foods.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

I thought this was very impressive:

I wonder how Kilgore found that out. Have to think BB or someone on the team fed that to him (not that there's anything wrong with that). I like Kilgore but there's no way he went to the BB collection in Annapolis and started flipping through books and happened to run across that play.

 

[PatsBoy12]

But "No", it's all because BB cheats.

That is just such an outrageous and insulting statement that I feel all the anger again just writing it.

I was hopeful that the Pats continuing success with Brady suspended would finally force the haters to finally admit that it isn't due to cheating, it is due to hard work, preparation, and excellence, but instead I am hearing lately that it is a shame that BB insists on tarnishing his legacy by cheating, when he is such a great coach that he really doesn't need to.

Some people are not going to give up their security blanket easily or willingly.

I hear your sentiment. But dude, the haters are sold. It's all cheating and that's all it will ever be to them, so I don't know why you were hopeful that success of any kind, with or without Brady, would change the collective opinion outside of Pats fandom. It will always be because of cheating as far as any Pats hater is concerned.

As far as the article, it's just excellent and none of it struck me as over-the-top praise. BB really is a coaching genius and I think that part of it is that he knows what the foundation of the game is and no matter how the rules get changed (*cough* for certain teams *cough*), what the game was built on and some of it's concepts remain the same and always will. If you stick to those elements, down to how you construct your team, you should win more than you lose.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Great article. Wasn't long enough.

 

[Galeb]

Great article. Wasn't long enough.

I've been described in a similar fashion. Simply replace the terms "article" with "guy" and "great" with "OK".

 

[raduray]

I wonder how Kilgore found that out. Have to think BB or someone on the team fed that to him (not that there's anything wrong with that). I like Kilgore but there's no way he went to the BB collection in Annapolis and started flipping through books and happened to run across that play.

It could be someone from Navy Football, where they hold the Belichick name in high regard..

 

[Galeb]

Good article. Agreed it was too short. This quote sorta sums up the entire article"

"Still, his actions suggest a man who deeply wishes to leave a record behind. He rejects immediate fame, but he covets long-term recognition. He does not celebrate himself or his achievements, but he is a willing accomplice for others in service of posterity. He does not want to be known, but he quite clearly wishes to be remembered."

 

[n6249c]

I wonder how Kilgore found that out. Have to think BB or someone on the team fed that to him (not that there's anything wrong with that). I like Kilgore but there's no way he went to the BB collection in Annapolis and started flipping through books and happened to run across that play.

I was wondering about that as I posted that excerpt.

It could be someone from Navy Football, where they hold the Belichick name in high regard..

Seems like a reasonable explanation, especially if Kilgore was in Annapolis to research the story somebody there could've pointed it out to him. In any case it seems like a good bet the library is being put to good use. It's already a tremendous family legacy.